Tonight the WWE will go head to head with the NCAA National Championship rematch between Alabama and Clemson. The WWE will try to combat the insane ratings the game is certain to draw by bringing in returning stars, The Undertaker and Shawn Michaels.
While they may be fighing tooth and nail tonight, the WWE and NCAA haven’t always been at odds. In fact, the NCAA has been a great feeder system for many WWE Hall of Famers. In his early days of WCW commentary, college football afficionado and wrestling announcer, Jim Ross used to love to point out the pigskin backgrounds of anyone that stepped in the square circle.Many of the WWE’s brightest stars started out dominating people on the collegiate gridiron.
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So before you watch Nick Saban likely bring home yet another championship (boring!), lets look at the greatest WWE superstars to ever play college football.
5. Titus O’Neil – University of Florida
Titus O’Neil, real name Thaddeus Bullard (which is actually a way cooler wrestling name), accepted an athletic scholarship to attend the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida, and played for coach Steve Spurrier’s Florida Gators football team from 1997 to 2000. He redshirted during the Gators’ 1996 national championship season. Bullard lettered the next four seasons, playing in forty-four regular season games with three starts. He was elected student body vice president in April 2000, and graduated in August 2000.
After college, Bullard played in the Arena Football League from 2003 to 2007 with the Utah Blaze, Tampa Bay Storm, Las Vegas Gladiators and the Carolina Cobrasย before pursuing wrestling.ย
4. Stone Cold Steve Austin – University of North Texas
Many people might be stunned to knowย that Stone Cold Steve Austin was once a bad S.O.B. on the gridiron. After dominating Edna High School,ย Austin got a football scholarship at Wharton County Junior College, followed by a full scholarship at the University of North Texas, where he would go on to playย defensive end before dabbling in professional wrestling to some success.ย
3. Roman Reigns – Georgia Tech
Roman Reigns comes by the spear naturally. In his senior year in High School, Reigns (real name Joe Anoi)ย was named Defensive Player of the Year by the Pensacola News Journal. He then attended Georgia Institute of Technology, where he was a member of the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets football team along with Calvin Johnson, who later became a wide receiver in the National Football League (NFL).ย Anoa’i was a three-year starter beginning in his sophomore year and was also one of the team captains as a senior.ย Anoa’i was named to the first-team All-Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) after recording twenty-nine tackles for loss and twelve sacks in 2006.ย
2. The Rock – University of Miami
The Rock has been pretty much great at everything he’s ever tried, so it should come as no surprise that heย was a promising football prospect and received offers from many Division I collegiate programs. He decided upon a full scholarship from the University of Miami to play defensive tackle. In 1991, he was on the Miami Hurricanes’ national championship team.ย After an injury kept him sidelined, he was replaced by future National Football League (NFL) star Warren Sapp. Despite becoming the most electrifying man in all of entertainment, Theย Rockย still reps the U to this day.ย
1. Goldberg – University of Georgia
Before he became the snarling, bald-headed WCW wrecking machine, Bill Goldberg was just a big kid with a mullet tearing up the NCAA football scene in the late 80s. Goldberg earned a scholarship to play for the University of Georgia Bulldogs football team where he served as a defensive tackle. He was taken by the Los Angeles Rams in the 11th round, with the 302nd overall selection, in the 1990 NFL draft.
If you happen to be watching the National Championship game (during commercials of RAW tonight, of course), keep your eyes peeled. You may just be looking at a future WWE Hall of Famer!ย
